Category: Blog

The following article was published last month in the Washington Post. The article was written by John Yoder, director of the U.S. Justice Department’s Asset Forfeiture Office from 1983 to 1985, and Brad Cates, director of that same office from 1985 to 1989. "Last week, the Post published a series of in-depth articles about the […]

People who are not familiar with the criminal-justice system often tend to believe that the most powerful person in the courtroom is the judge. But that is not always true. Earlier this month, The Economist printed the following article called "The Kings of the Courtroom: How Prosecutors Came to Dominate the Criminal-Justice System:" CAMERON TODD […]

In the case of the City of Hollywood versus Eric Arem, an appeals court ruled that it is illegal for a private company to issue traffic tickets to people for running a red light. The court said that in Florida only law enforcement officers and traffic enforcement officers have the legal authority to issue citations […]

In the case of the City of Hollywood versus Eric Arem, an appeals court ruled that it is illegal for a private company to issue traffic tickets to people for running a red light. The court said that in Florida only law enforcement officers and traffic enforcement officers have the legal authority to issue citations […]

In order to be guilty of the crime of vehicular homicide, a person has to be driving a car or some other type of motor vehicle in such a reckless manner that it is likely that he or she will cause the death of, or great bodily harm to, another person. There have been many […]

In the case of Stephen Chesser versus the State of Florida, Mr. Chesser was charged with nine counts of possession of photographs depicting sexual conduct by a child with intent to promote. All nine photographs were found in a shed located on some property belonging to Mr. Chesser's parents. Chesser later pled guilty to all […]

In the case of Jennifer Kish versus the State of Florida, Ms. Kish was convicted of the crime of culpable negligence for allowing her three children--ages 10, 8, and 7--who were sick with cold and upper respiratory symptoms, to be left unsupervised for two to three hours after school until adults arrived home from work. […]

In the case of Jennifer Kish versus the State of Florida, Ms. Kish was convicted of the crime of culpable negligence for allowing her three children--ages 10, 8, and 7--who were sick with cold and upper respiratory symptoms, to be left unsupervised for two to three hours after school until adults arrived home from work. […]

A "mandatory minimum penalty" refers to a federal law that requires a judge to sentence a person convicted of that law to a specified minimum term of imprisonment in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. There are approximately 200 federal laws that carry a mandatory minimum penalty. According to statistics published by the United States Sentencing […]

In order to prove the crime of aggravated assault, a prosecutor in Florida has to show that the person accused of committing that crime had a specific intent to do violence to someone else. What is important is the intent of the accused person and not the reaction of the victim. For example, in the […]